[Lowfer] DXing MP and the T-storms
JD
listread at lwca.org
Thu Sep 26 23:50:13 EDT 2013
There were only a few more storms tonight (north central Mexico, Cuba, the
Bahamas) than there were this afternoon (norther Rockies, Manitoba,
Florida), and they are all roughly as distant on average as the ones
earlier, but apparently they're propagating quite well by skywave.
My first check of MP today was while working on the farm at mid-afternoon,
and it was clear as a bell...well, a bell with slight dogbones. The signal
wasn't at the AGC threshold of the receiver, by any means, but conditions
were quiet enough to hear the carrier key on and off. Probably would've
copied the CW ID if I'd been listening to the speaker at the right time.
Static was around S1-S2 and very intermittent. Did notice MP appeared to be
a few tenths lower in frequency.
I resumed monitoring after supper, about 6:05 PM CDT, just over an hour
before sunset. The first results were easily as strong as this afternoon,
so I eventually cranked up a second instance of Argo at 30 sec slow to give
an expanded view. Then I left the vehicle and resumed my work. I returned
to the car about 30 minutes after sunset to see MP trailing off into the
distance. Watched a few minutes longer, but no joy. By then the static was
continuous and ranging from S5 to S9, with an occasional burst above that.
At 72.4, static was an S-unit higher, and at 185, nearly one unit
lower...about the energy distribution to be expected from lightning when
arriving by skywave from a distance.
Looked at 22 meters afterward, and observed an odd bifurcation in frequency
on EH's signal. The other signals visible this evening were USC and NC,
with HiFER MP present briefly. (Along with those, this afternoon MP was
much better, EDJ was clear, and BC was faintly making an appearance from
time to time.) I'll post a capture of the EH anomaly later tonight at
http://lwca.org/mb/
John
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